This article intends to prove, as to the financial fragility of the public sector, that it is reflected not only in the disarray of the institutional and administrative framework, but is, indeed, a global crisis of financing translated into a progressive indebtedness of the sector and in its incapacity to finance its own recovery. Hence the conclusion that those extreme difficulties faced by the Brazilian Public sector are embedded in the context of a much more extensive crisis, deriving from the country's historic developmental pattern and demanding, therefore, deep changes of an economic, social and political nature.Fragilidade financeira do setor público consiste em crise de financiamento geral. Reflexos no endividamento progressivo do setor público e na incapacidade de financiar sua recuperação. Choques fiscais não solucionam estrangulamentos permanentes. Processo inserido no contexto de crise global, requerendo mudanças de ordem econômica, social e política.